Chapter 1 - The Red Dress
The heel struck Khloe Thorne's stomach before she could turn away.
"You think having his baby makes you untouchable?" Isabella Rossi said.
Khloe was twenty-nine weeks pregnant and had been told to rest in the family lounge of the hospital's private maternity suite after an examination.
One moment she was reaching for her phone.
The next she was on the marble floor, unable to draw a full breath.
"Please," she managed.
Isabella stepped back, straightened her crimson gown, and looked at the door.
A crystal water pitcher had fallen from the sideboard.
Its shattered pieces glittered beside Khloe's white hospital robe.
Marcus burst in seconds later.
"Khloe!"
He dropped beside his wife, then froze at the blood staining the fabric beneath her hands.
"Call somebody!" he shouted.
"She attacked me," Isabella said, with tears that appeared astonishingly fast.
Elaine Parker, the floor's guest-services attendant, nodded from the doorway.
"Mrs. Thorne lost control. I tried to stop her."
Khloe could hear them, but the room kept fading at the edges.
"Marcus," she whispered, "the baby."
He pressed the emergency call button.
The double doors opened, and Dr. Jonathan Vance entered with a trauma team and four hospital police officers.
Jonathan was Khloe's uncle and the medical center's board chair, but he stepped aside for Dr. Priya Nair, the obstetric specialist leading the response.
"Nobody moves her until we stabilize her," Nair said.
Isabella lifted her chin.
"My father is one of your largest donors. I demandā"
"You can make demands to the police," Jonathan answered.
He pointed at the security monitor in the corner.
"That camera covers the family lounge. Khloe authorized the security recording after her previous complaint."
An officer began reviewing the saved clip.
Onscreen, Isabella glanced up at the camera, stepped deliberately into Khloe's path, and raised her foot.
Elaine gripped the doorframe.
Marcus looked from the video's time stamp to Isabella's message still open on his own phone.
It had arrived two minutes before the kick.
KHLOE IS ACTING VIOLENT. COME NOW.
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The warning wasn't a reaction to the assault.
It had been written before Isabella touched his wife.
